How to Publish My Own Hardcover Book

Publishing your hardcover book

Publishing your own hard cover book is a simple process with the use of digital technologies. There are a variety of publishers available on the web that will publish your book as a print-on-demand item, or by printing a set number of hard copies. On line publishers offer a variety of custom publishing packages making the production of your own hard-cover book easy and affordable.

Things You'll Need

• Publisher
• Completed copy of book in computer file, CD, or external hard drive
• Computer with Internet access
• Estimated $400.00 minimum fee for a basic publishing package
• United States Copyright (estimated $200.00 fee)

Instructions

1. 

   Research publishers

   Perform due diligence in researching your publishing options as hard cover books are generally 3 times more expensive to produce than their soft back counterparts. A soft cover book that is 100 pages in volume, and 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches in actual physical size, and printed in black and white costs about $5.30 (U.S. dollars) per book to produce; whereas a hard back that has the same volume and physical size, printed in black and white runs about $17.50 (U.S. dollars) per book to publish.

2. 

   Manage publishing activities

   Log on to the web site of the publisher that you chose and create a free user name and password to regularly manage your activities and monitor the publishing of your hardcover book at every phase of production.

3. 

   Choose a hard cover binding

   Pick one of the two industry standard binding types for your book--either a jacket hard cover or a case wrap cover.

4. 

   Include a hard back cover design

   Choose a working title for your hard back and upload your content files, including text, images and the design for the front and back of the hard cover, to the publishing website you have chosen following the simple step-by-step instructions from that website.

5. 

   Get a copyright

   Get your original hardcover copyrighted on line at copyright.gov before you market and distribute it so that your work can not be legally duplicated.

6. 

   Hard backs command a high price

   Set the final sale price of your hardback based upon what other hardbacks of similar quality, physical size and volume are retailing for, as hardback books are expensive to produce and therefore command a high price.

Tips & Warnings

• The sales price per book should not be less than the cost per book to publish it.

• Generally accepted file formats for uploading your book content include: DOC (word document; RTF (rich text format); WPS (works document); PDF (portable document format); PS (postscript); and Images (jpg,gif,png).

• The ISBN number can be established by the publisher and ensures that your book will be indexed with libraries, schools, and data-bases.

• Be sure that you own the copyright of your book with any given publisher.

• Be clear about the rate of royalty payment or fixed price agreement before signing a contract; know what you are getting into in advance.

• Keep the user name and password to your publisher's web site private.

• Copyright your book in advance of publishing it to avoid illegal duplication.

References

• Choose Your Publisher: How To Publish Your Book
• Create Space: A book to be proud of

Resources

• Lulu: Self Publish Your Book For Free